


Two Hearts, Just One Butterfly

by LexiTheDoubleedge



Category: Doki Doki Literature Club! (Visual Novel), Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha | Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Real World, Angst and Feels, Depression, Gen, Or not a game anyway, Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-19
Updated: 2020-02-19
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:26:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22797778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LexiTheDoubleedge/pseuds/LexiTheDoubleedge
Summary: Sometimes you need to make a new friend.
Relationships: Sayori (Doki Doki Literature Club!) & Original Character(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	Two Hearts, Just One Butterfly

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: What I'm doing with one side of this crossover is probably not entirely compatible with it's official lore.

It began when Sayori was much younger. Even now, the rainclouds had already begun to haunt her life, though it would be several years before she would start using that particular term. Right now, she hadn't even fully internalized that most of the people around her didn't feel the way she did sometimes. But she knew that there were good days and bad days, and even the good days were marred by knowing that the bad days would come again.

Still, today was a good day. The sun was shining brightly, the weather was temperate, and Sayori's smiles were artless as she ran and played.

She had dropped to the grass to catch her breath when something tickled the back of her hand. Giggling, she looked down and saw that a butterfly had landed on her. As the initial surprise wore off, she lifted her hand up so she could get a closer look. The butterfly, for it's part, seemed undisturbed, beating it's wings gently but making no move to fly away. Sayori wondered if it was studying her as closely as she was studying it.

"I wish you could stay with me forever," she said to it. Surely a butterfly visiting her could bring her some cheer even on her worst days.

And Sayori's linker core, previously quiescent, burst into furious activity.

Sayori was not, by any standards, much of a mage. She had no device, and what little training she had was mostly focused on not using her magic by accident, training she had just failed in applying. Her knowledge of familiar creation was academic at best. But she had power, and desire, and those could be made to serve in the absence of other tools. 

If the will held firm, and the power lasted long enough. 

She immediately realized what she'd started, and knew that she was in danger. But letting go would be just as dangerous. Snippets of half-remembered advice ran through her head, things she wasn't even certain whether they'd really come from overheard discussions of magic or from pep talks in movies she'd watched.

_Focus on the shape._

_Hang on, and try not to die._

So Sayori hung on, and she focused. Not on the physical shape as the metaphorical. On the idea of a friend who would stay with her forever...

...

...

...

..

.

***

"Master! Master, are you all right?"

Sayori realized she was lying on her back, feeling exhausted in a way she never had before. It was a fatigue borne not entirely of the body, but from the way she'd overused her linker core.

She blinked. Hovering worriedly above her was a girl who looked about her own age. A girl she'd never seen before, but instinctively recognized.

A girl whose oversized butterfly wings were shielding Sayori from the sun.

"Yeah. I'm all right," she said, smiling brightly.

***

Sayori's parents accepted the new addition to their household with surprised equanimity. They certainly hadn't been expecting their daughter to create a familiar, but such things weren't unprecedented either. To the local government, whose agents for the most part didn't know about magic, Ribon became their second daughter, and indeed they treated her as one - even if they hadn't already been so inclined, their first would have accepted no less.

And if there was occasionally some mischief enabled by Ribon's ability to assume an adult form at will... well, it was never more than mischief. Sayori and Ribon were both good girls.

The years passed. Ribon did not fail to notice Sayori's depression, and did her best to brighten her day whenever she could, or at least make things easier on her when that failed. She wasn't entirely happy about Sayori's decision to hide it from their parents, but accepted it.

High school came, followed by the invitation to help found a literature club. Ribon, who believed that sitting quietly was a virtue best practiced in moderation, joined the track team instead. Groundbound athletics didn't come naturally to her, but that just added to the thrill of the challenge. Sometimes she wondered if this was the right decision, but she knew Sayori wouldn't be happy if she made herself do something she didn't enjoy just to stay together. Besides, it was only part of the day.

When Sayori mentioned that she was going to invite their neighbor, a boy she'd known almost as long as she'd been Ribon's sister, to join the literature club, it didn't seem like an issue.

***

"Ribon, could you do the shopping for me?" Sayori said, tugging restlessly at her pajamas. She didn't say why she couldn't do the requested errand herself - but then, she didn't really need to.

"All right, Sayori," Ribon replied. At least the trip to the store made for a decent workout.

***

Sayori watched from the window as her sister jogged away from their home.

She knew Ribon didn't really like doing this kind of errand, but she still did so whenever asked. And the girl who'd lived as Sayori's sister for almost as long as she could remember was no mindless servant who would do whatever she was told. She could do what she chose, and she chose to do even things she'd rather not to make Sayori's life easier.

Ribon really was the perfect considerate daughter. Not like Sayori, who couldn't even work up the energy to pick up a few groceries.

She turned away from the window.

... They'd be happier without her.

***

Ribon was giving the shelf that contained bottles of a particular cleaning solution that mom liked a vexed look. Or rather, the shelf that -should- have contained said bottles. Should she get a different brand instead, or would it be better to go home empty-handed?

Her contemplation was interrupted as a pain that wasn't her own shot through her. Even though this was a new experience for her, she instinctively knew what it meant.

Her master was in danger!

Heedless of any risk of observation, Ribon dropped her shopping and began preparing a teleport to as close as she could get to Sayori's location - which, somewhat to her consternation, was still at home.

She appeared in the front entryway, and immediately transformed to what Sayori had once dubbed her "fairy" form, a tiny human shape with butterfly wings. At this size rather than climbing the stairs (which would be way too slow), she could simply dart through the gaps in a spiraling maneuver that would have left most observers dizzied.

Ribon recklessly crashed through Sayori's bedroom door...

... And was nearly stricken senseless with horror at what she found. But she didn't stop moving forward. She raised one hand to launch a spread of bullets at the rope holding Sayori aloft even as her body expanded into full-size humanoid form.

It was the first time she'd ever used a magical attack outside of training, and her accuracy was somewhat lacking, with four of the shots going wide, gouging holes in the walls, but the fifth neatly cored the rope. The fibers that remained were unable to support Sayori's weight for more than a moment, letting her fall into her familiar's reaching arms. Hands that had scrabbled futilely against the noose now finished their job, the broken rope tossed away, and for a while the only thing in Sayori's mind was the simple pleasure of getting enough oxygen again after a time without.

But it wasn't long before Sayori realized that she heard someone sobbing.

She must have made some movement or noise that got Ribon's attention, because that was when she lifted her head and looked the other girl right in the eye.

"Why, master? Why?? You said... you promised that we'd stay together forever!"

Her familiar's words were like knives tearing at her heart. "Parents deserve better than me... like you." Sayori rasped out. "All of you... my friends... don't need me hanging around making them sad like this. Better off if I was gone..."

Ribon stared at Sayori like she'd suggested they go around using their magic to grow extra heads on people. Then she grabbed Sayori's hand and pressed it against her chest, making Sayori wince at the rough handling of her abraded fingers. "What do you feel?" Ribon demanded.

Sayori felt... Ribon's hand? And her shirt? But she'd seen enough dramas to be pretty sure of the answer she was expected to give. "...Heartbeat?"

"Butterflies don't have hearts," her familiar retorted. "What you feel is Sayori. Sayori's will that gave me this form. Sayori's magic flowing through me that gives me life. There's no way Ribon could be better off without Sayori! Because... without Sayori, there is no Ribon!"

And with that the energy seemd to leave her and she went back to crying into Sayori's shoulder.

***

It wasn't long before their parents came home, much earlier than usual, and Sayori realized that Ribon must have used telepathy to contact them. Obviously, she wasn't interested in helping Sayori hide her depression anymore. With the damage to her room, hiding that something had happened was probably a lost cause anyway.

An ambulance soon followed. Ribon looked like she was about to attack the EMT who told her she couldn't ride along with them, before dad pulled her aside for a quick conference. She seemed to go back inside the house, but Sayori wasn't fooled. A butterfly flitted past the man as soon as his back was turned and settled into a hidden place in Sayori's clothes, Ribon in her smallest (and least used, at least in the last few years) form. An ordinary insect would probably be crushed, but familiars were made of sterner stuff than that, no matter what their shape or size.

Things would be so much easier, Sayori thought, if everyone didn't care about her so much.

***

At some point Ribon had snuck out so she could reenter in human form with their parents. At least she'd stopped crying. But when visiting time ended, it wasn't long before she fluttered her way back into Sayori's room.

Sayori idly wondered how they'd arranged to hide a member of their group disappearing. However they'd done it, her familiar obviously didn't plan on leaving her alone anytime soon.

She supposed she should be trying to get some sleep now, like Ribon was, her tiny form hanging upside down from a hidden corner of the bed. Butterflies didn't really sleep like humans, but Sayori knew Ribon did, no matter what form she was in. Familiar biology could be kind of funny that way.

Thinking about the days events kept threatening to send Sayori into another downward spiral, but there was one thing she kept tripping over. Just one thing that her mind couldn't quite find a way to turn into something she should feel bad about...

***

The next day, Sayori agreed to start seeing a therapist.

**Author's Note:**

> The primary inspiration for this story came from something in an informational post for Stardust Falcon's deliriously wonderful Lyrical Nanoha/Worm crossover [On Fluttering Wings](https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/on-fluttering-wings-taylor-hebert-in-mgln.53204/):
>
>>   
> the idea of a young and likely-abused Mage grabbing a butterfly or something and turning it into a Familiar with the nebulous goal of "be my friend forever"  
> 
> 
> Back in December, I saw that, and thought to myself "I kind of want to read a story about that." Which turned into "I want to read about Sayori doing that", because I've been on a huge DDLC kick for a while now. And then I came up with an actual scenario that I didn't think I could do justice to. As you can see, I changed my mind about that last part.
> 
> Also I was probably doomed to write a story with a dramatic rescue after Monika expressed derision for the idea in Just Me, even if that wasn't really supposed to be my opinion.
> 
> Though nothing in this story is a direct reference to it (I think), I'd still like to thank reddit user Tormuse for the DDLC mod [Sayori says no to suicide](https://www.reddit.com/r/DDLCMods/comments/aduk6l/sayori_says_no_to_suicide_a_psa_download_link_in/), which provided a great deal of food for thought.
> 
> Two Hearts, Just One Butterfly - Inspired by a line from Phil Collins' "Two Hearts".
> 
> pep talks in movies - In fact, both of these lines come from online fiction. The first is derived from something in Eyrie Productions' "Knights of the Tenth World", and the second... Well, "try not to die" is apparently pretty common, and I'm not sure wher I got "hang on" from", but the inspration I remember is S'TarKan's "Team 8".
> 
> Ribon - My Japanese editing program thinks this is a real Japanese name, which I've decided to go along with, because the possible meanings are too perfect. 蝶結 = Butterfly contract.
> 
> recklessly crashed through - We'll have no gentle opening of doors here.
> 
> you promised - Hoo boy. I'm pretty sure this is -not- a good approach to take with someone depressed enough to try to kill themself. Even if 'Sayori dies, Ribon dies' is the elephant in the room. (Some fanfics I've read have familiars able to connect to a new master if the old one dies, but I don't know if that's official... and the odds of Ribon being in a suitable mental state to do it if Sayori did kill herself are about zero anyway.) Writing this made me feel a bit more sympathy for MC.
> 
> Butterflies don't have hearts - Not strictly true.


End file.
